I just joined Trading 212 but had a quick question.
In Belgium, we need to report any foreign bank account to the tax authorities. This includes security accounts.
Typically, the information required are the bank account number, country where the account is located, name of the bank at which the account is open and the BIC code.
Could you please let me know whether Trading 212 opens a security account for each new investor joining or is just a platform where people register an account like on a forum for instance and then place money to be invested? If the former is applicable, where can I find that information?
We don’t open a separate security account for each client. Instead, your equities are in custody at Interactive Brokers. Here you can find more information.
Nevertheless, is there an identification number for each Trading 212 user over at Interactive Broker, which would be similar to the way an IBAN works (for regular bank accounts)? I mean, a number used for identification purposes (on which T212 account to deposit the money for instance).
During my research for a broker, I stumble upon one active in Belgium and the Netherlands, who also partners with Interactive Brokers UK. In their FAQ, they explain how to report their account in Belgian tax returns. They indicate IB address in the UK etc, and for the box “Bank account number”, they mention “UXXXXXXX” (I imagine the Xs are actual number different for each account) . Is this last information the same for T212 and can it be retrieved for each individual case?
We don’t issue such information since we hold the equities on your behalf. Nonetheless, feel free to reach our customer care team should you need specific tax-related details concerning your account. We have clients from Belgium, and I’m positive that we’ll be able to offer a solution.
No one from T212 has been of much help in this respect, so let me just tell you how I did it.
Since T212 holds our equity in an IBKR UK account, I figured that I would need to report IBKR UK information to the National Bank, in a similar fashion to the BE/NL broker I mentioned in my OP. Here is how I reported my T212 account :
Account number : your personal account number as displayed on your activity reports for instance
Name of company : Interactive Brokers
Country where the account has been opened : UK
Street and number : Level 20 Heron Tower
Post code and location : EC2N 4AY London
City : London
Hope this helps but let me know in in case you need clarification
Thank you so much for this. I have used the info you provided.
PS…I do have some questions regarding the witholding tax on dividends. Mind if I ping you about it? I am a bit confused how to go about declaring the witholding tax. I have to pay 30% of the dividend as TD212 doesn’t hold any. Do you just do this while filling up the annual tax returns?
As T212 indeed does not withhold Belgian taxes on the dividend you receive, you have to report the income yourself in your tax return each year.
Note however that if you got less than 800 euros worth of dividends from T212 during 2020, you do not have to report them in your personal income tax return as the first 800 euros of dividends are tax-free.
Any eurocent above that limit has to be reported and will indeed be taxed at 30%.
Also worth noting that in case you use a Belgian broker that withholds Belgian taxes on dividends and if you had less than 800 euros of dividends in 2020, you can claim back the withholding taxes in your yearly tax return, up to 240 euros (30% of 800 euros).
Hi, @Moul this is timely - I was about to ask the same question in the forum before I saw your post. I live in France and have similar obligations to declare my foreign bank accounts to tax authorities, using the form 3916.
Looking at the banking details given by Trading 212 when making a transfer, I understand that Trading212 works with a pooled account, there is no account under my name. So I would interpret this as I do not own an account in the UK with Trading212 / Barklays.
However, to be on the safe side, I would declare it just like you mentioned.
But I am confused at the details you are giving, I never saw “Interactive Brokers” in those bank details. The details I am seeing are, for the USD account (hiding a few digits for security):
BANK NAME: Barclays Bank PLC
BENEFICIARY: Trading 212 UK Limited
IBAN GB54 BARC 2019 907* *76 99
BIC BARCGB22
ACCOUNT NUMBER 7 **76 99
SORT CODE 20-19-90
I wonder why we have different details, if it is a pooled account, we should have the same details?
I was using Lynx as a reference because they also use IB as an intermediary for their brokerage services but I just read their legal documentation (which I did not at the time) and it appears that they open an IB securities account for each new customer. Which is why they mentioned in their FAQ that the reporting of the Lynx account should actually mention IB information (as I indicated above).
Now, as far as I understand it, Trading 212 does not have individual securities account for each customer, but rather a single pool account at both IB and Barclays.
Does it mean that technically, there is nothing to report? To be honest, I do not know. But as you said, I would much rather be on the safe side and still report something. And as T212 serves as a securities account rather than a bank account, I would still report the IB information.
Trading212 admins - please add this topic in your FAQ - Where to find the details of the accounts to declare, for non UK fiscal residents.
Where can I find this information? I can’t find activity reports, this is probably because I did not start trading yet (brand new Trading212 account just created).
When using the web app, click on your e-mail address in the top right corner, then go to Settings. You should then see your Account ID number under the tab “Account details”.
Hi, how can I be sure that this account number is nothing more than a Trading212 reference, and not a number actually recognized by Interactive Brokers ?
Well, this is the official reply I just got from Trading212 support.
Currently, you have an active account with Trading 212, however, we do not open an account for you with Interactive Brokers, as we hold the shares you invest in on your behalf. Whenever you invest with Trading 212, your equity is held in custody at Interactive Brokers, however, we are unable to open an account on your behalf nowhere.
So technically, there should be nothing to report to local tax authorities, although reporting the Barclays and IB accounts as a reference should put us on the safe side.
